Knowledge of the locations and properties of conduits is valuable when managing the water resources of karst aquifers. In spite of the large reliance on karst aquifers for water resources, assessment tools appropriate for characterizing karst aquifers are inadequate and inferior when compared with similar tools developed for porous-media-type aquifers, such as sand and gravel or sandstone reservoirs. In particular, groundwater modeling tools developed for porous media-type aquifers cannot accommodate both the rapid flow of groundwater through conduits, and the slow flow and storage of groundwater in the matrix of karst aquifers. Understanding the geometry of karst conduits has been a difficult task. In order to accurately construct groundwater models, researchers must know the full extent of these features.
Conventional prior art methods used to directly characterize karst conduits include tracer tests (Alexander, E. C., Jr. and J. F. Quinlan. 1992. Practical Tracing of Ground Water, with Emphasis on Karst Terrains. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colo. Volume 2, pp. 195 & 133), and mapping by cave divers (Lauritzen, S-E., J. Abbott, R. Arnessen, G. Crossley, D. Grepperud, A. Ive, and S. Johson, 1985. Morphology and Hydraulics of an Active Phreatic Conduit Cave Science 12. pp. 139-146). Dye tracer studies, while useful for determining flow velocities in a system, do not accurately characterize the size and complexity of karst conduits. Mapping karst conduits through the use of cave divers is both costly and dangerous. In addition, cave mapping is limited to: (i) conduits large enough for divers to access, (ii) conduits with flow velocities low enough to be safely navigated by a diver, and (iii) reasonable depths and distances.
A need thus exists for an inexpensive means of measuring and recording the morphology and flow characteristics of a karst conduit while traversing a karst conduit between an accessible launch and recovery site. A means and method of sensing, measuring and recording karst conduit flow velocity, path traveled, and conduit dimensions would provide numerous advantages.